ECOWAS Commissioner for Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research, Dr. Konadu Apraku, has attributed Ghana’s economic downturn to poorly targeted expenditure.

According to him, while the coronavirus and the Russia-Ukraine conflict can take some blame for the current economic meltdown, the government’s expenditure hikes and poor targeting of same carry the most blame.

While he stopped short of referring to the issue as a case of economic mismanagement, he stated that the expenditure hikes and poor targeting of expenditure had left Ghana with a fragile economy.

This he says is the reason why Ghana’s economy took a devastating blow in comparison to other West African economies post-pandemic.

Dr. Apraku who has launched his bid for the flagbearership of the New Patriotic Party said on PM Express, “Yes we had some very good times in the administration of President Akufo-Addo’s first term, second term things started going wrong and that is not surprising to me.

“Because we collect the data, we come to the country, I send my staff, they go to trade  and industry, we look at our export, we go to the airport, we look at government expenditures, we look at incomes and all the economic variables and prepare a projection of what is going to happen in that country.

“I think government expenditures went up significantly and it’s a major reason,” he said.

He added that “Well, it’s not whether they’re spent well. Did they go into the priority sector that will give us the greatest impact? If you did that you won’t have the problems.

“You see, when your economy is already fragile, something that may not even impact significantly in another country can devastate you. The fragility comes from various reasons, poorly targeting expenditures and therefore not getting the results.”